[your throne] okay, I'm convinced, let's go
just starting
also this is unrelated to anything about the story, I just want to note that, like
I'm pretty sure I recognize the Clip Studio asset they used for that earring
this is of no consequence. I just think it's funny that I've been staring at the asset library enough that I can tell.
take a wild guess my dude
what the fuck
YO DID WE JUST FREAKY FRIDAY??
chin hands
SLAMS IN HERE
I DID THIS. I MADE THIS HAPPEN TO MY TIMELINE
this and the cat couch will be my legacy
yesssss
also there's like. a lot of CSP asset use, i'm pretty sure, since i'm not even familiar with the asset library and i'm often going "hmmm i'm pretty sure that is an asset from some library being used here"
lmao yeah in the temple especially there was a lot of Asset Collage
but you know when you have to put out these things weekly i'm all for taking literally every shortcut that makes the actual pleasurable parts of this easier to get to
oh absolutely
more power to them, take every labor-saving tool you fucking can
that's a Face
one of these women is coping much better with being freaky friday'd
wait what
:'D
A for effort there, Psyche
awfsrgre
OH FUCK
LETTER INTERCEPTED
OH IT WAS A FAKE?!
what is this soap opera bullshit holy shit I'm all in
perish.
holy shit
What is this exactly?
And why is it so extra?
with intentionally minimal information and a request to liveplurk so she could see reactions
I've known her long enough to trust her when she makes that kind of rec and then I saw reaction plurks pop up like HOLY SHIT PLEASE READ THIS
so.
also like, it's about wildass social warfare and noble scheming, of course it's extra
Just tell me this
Are they Teenagers or Adults?
Making these wild-ass claims?
I haven't seen any ages given yet but I'd peg them as young adults?
Alright.
oh, as I say that I just got to a three-years-ago flashback where one of the main characters says she was nineteen at the time
so yeah, young adults largely in the early twenties
I'd say the shit going on here is a bit too much for my direct viewing, but godspeed to you
OH I LOVE YOUR THRONE
i haven’t kept up with it though because it’s better for me to read it in one big go
instead of foaming at the mouth for a week
MAKES SENSE
hahaha
also my god I posted that just for a live reaction and then i thought about how much context it takes to understand it and. gurgles
I'M ONLY ON EPISODE 7
Here lies Song of Keys. They were only on Episode 7. Rip in pepperoni
aww yeah Psyche's really getting the hang of pretending to be Medea, very good
aww bb
--oh fuck
oh FUCK
PRINCE WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCK IS YOUR DEAL
whispers i'm so happy
this is incredible
YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO BE ONE THING, BASED ON CHAPTER 1.
[this process repeats 12 times]
wait when the fuck was this established
is that something Medea figured out offscreen
I'M ASKING YOU WHY, MEDEA
songofkeys: i think that's just her confirming that this is a likely sounding deadline she's pulled out of her ass
I see. that does scan.
CamiuVidan: or what it's worth even though the sense of drama is INCREDIBLY HIGH the actual portrayal of terrible things is not gratuitous. there are definitely cws but not the kind of cws i'd have expected based on what lyssie has posted so far
*for
oh yeah there's been like, One (1) on-panel stabbing
other than that it's been almost entirely 5D social chess
it's a lot of high concept sketches of drama and almost flat none of what i'd consider misery porn or using, for example, sexual abuse as an octane enhancer
we didn't even see the bruises the prince expected Medea-in-Psyche's-body to have from the manacles he put her in
there is stuff later like, THERE IS CW CHILD ABUSE, I'LL TELL YOU THAT FOR FREE, but it's all like...
well, i've seen utena comparisons and actually that's very apt
honestly yeah
the really heavy emotional stuff is very organic and not done for shock value, what's done for shock value are the close up facial expressions of people wanting to be stepped on by other people
which is how we like it in this house
lots of nobles viciously passive-aggressing at each other
yyyyy
actually i haven't said this on plurk anywhere because "tanz recs this intensely" spoke for itself more or less that this wouldn't be a concern, but i'm absolutely floored by the amount of sexual violence there isn't, either in backstory or in the present, for a story with a [what the fuck is your deal, prince eros] situation
it would have been incredibly easy to go there and actually it's way tamer than utena on that front
oh man yeah, I didn't even notice the absence until you pointed it out but u rite
that part of the story is so far more or less a treatise inviting the reader to reflect on that time they super fucking hated their one friend's boyfriend and otherwise isn't present because "i fucking hate your boyfriend and let me tell you about my gratuitous rape backstory" is NOT the same mood
also why bother with sexual assault when you can just
ruin somebody's social standing and all their prospects forever and ever
or have them killed. w/e.
god. what chapter are you on. i'm just tracking your progress by the tenor of your screams.
right now Medea is being attacked by the five handpicked knights and just faked losing her footing to disguise her sick dodge moves
she is Good At This.
so, episode #9.
estrapade: do you read this week by week, can I scream at you on discord when it updates, I've been suffering in silence since it was at chapter 6 lol
I really feel for poor Psyche tbh
I didn't realize that shit happened only chapter 9. Since I'm ahead of you I comment to spy
But I'm not finished with it so I can't speak about it as a whole yet (at least up to the current point)
meanwhile Medea's having a great time
I'LL NOTE TOO THAT I'M NOT SAYING THAT THERE ISN'T GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF STUFF like there are for sure THIS STABBED BODY IS VERY FUCKED UP NOW
but i guess i think of "gratuitous" as being based on intent
and in those cases it's very clearly like THE CAMERA FOCUSES ON THIS BODY. GOD. THIS IS SUPER FUCKED UP. WE ALL FEEL FUCKED UP ABOUT IT. okay that's established
rather than like. you know what i'm saying.
long pornographic lingering on misery
flamesonthesideofmyface: I GUESS I'M READING IT WEEK BY WEEK NOW. AND YES
if you missed my plurk about it what happened was, i clicked it at random while looking for pbs a couple of weeks ago
"i'll scan through the first couple of chapters of this to see if there are good expressions," i thought
since Tanz has gone and spread it we could probably make a lil friendgroup discord about it now lmao
"jesus fuck what the fuck i'm what the fuck what the FUCK" i panted 36 hours later after having read chapters 1 through 68
"I NEED TO MAKE EVERYONE READ THIS AND ALSO NOT REALIZE WHAT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO THEM SOMEHOW"
luckily i've cultivated many chumps who trust me
songofkeys: omg yeah i'd like a lil discord channel that's a good idea
rivalcharacter: SO MUCH SHIT HAPPENS BEFORE CHAPTER 10 WHICH IS PRETTY WILD SINCE CHAPTER 10 IS WHEN IT BECOMES EVEN MORE SO
I would join a chat once I've caught up. Then I would remember to read new chapters
I absolutely missed it and do not know how!!!!
nooooo baby Medea was so precious
flamesonthesideofmyface: THE IMPORTANT THING IS YOU'RE NOW SEEING EVERYONE LOSING THEIR MINDS
ABSOLUTELY AND I AM LOVING EVERY SECOND OF IT!!!
oh no.
this already explains so much about Medea.
oh 
i've identified an adult who needs to die
HOLY SHIT
f-fucking. the fucking nosebleed onto the books.
fucking hell. This would be too much for me to read directly but just wow
psyche....
back in the present and Psyche's on the payload
god seeing how they were actually kind of friends before Eros pulled
whatever all this clownfuckery is is kind of wrenching
Psyche nakedly fucking adored Medea
and still does??
oh you motherfucker you planned to get engaged to and then assassinate Psyche right here didn't you
specifically because she's so angelically pretty and had just laid out a policy proposal that was extremely popular with the people I bet
I don't remember if the empire is still at war in the present, but either way I bet you he fucking planned to use her death to whip up an anti-[enemy country] fervor so as to be able to get away with More War
let's see if I'm right.
the lady has a point eros
also: revising my estimation of when he planned to assassinate her. it was way before the contest
1. I hate him
2. oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten about the basement, what the fuck,
2. oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten about the basement, what the fuck,
Look at you. How could you go on living without me?
WOW WHAT THE FUCK DUKE SOLON
VICIOUS power move
you motherfucker
also who the fuck was that red-haired lady who was subtly stirring up pro-Psyche anti-Medea bias
oh, Medea. you know you wouldn't for her, so why did you expect her to do it for you 
WHAT! YO! WHAT THE FUCK!!!
DON'T TAKE THIS SHIT OUT ON NANA!!!
songofkeys: in fairness to medea, psyche did literally tell her that she would
"i will go with whoever wins the competition" and medea won all three challenges handily before eros overturned it
yeah true... but like, he DID overturn it
which made that the new outcome
still. ugh.
yeah but, if someone says that they will go with whoever wins fairly and then they conveniently win unfairly and don't go back on it, and you just heard ten minutes ago that they might have been colluding with the person who overturned it ahead of time
you might feel like that
pointed in a direction
a very good and true point.
kill them.
I hate the duke and duchess solon so, so, so burningly much.
heli lookin great, super healthy
the fact medea as ruthless as she is was so fucked up over "i tried my hardest and got there fair and square with my own hard won skills and it didn't work" is its own tale honestly
it's almost like she bought into the fantasy that if she just tried hard enough she could be perfect and make no mistakes and control whether or not anything bad would happen!
almost like her parents were uncaring sociopaths and she had to adopt that kind of mentality to survive because even though her nanny loved her so much she was still ultimately beholden to her parents' abusive authority!!!
kinda like that
ohhh I see. no he just has it out for Medea specifically huh.
shakes Eros until answers fall out
tanz how am I only on chapter 15 what the fuck
it's really cute that you've read past ch 3 and yet you're trying to make predictions still
sob
Heli is... cute
HOLY SHIT DID PSYCHE INTERCEPT HIS DESPAIR STAB WITH HER HAND?
psyche????!?!!? u good????!!??!!1
W H A T THE
THIS FUCKIN
I DON'T
THAT WAS SO MUCH INFORMATION IN LIKE THREE PANELS
JUST CASUALLY FAKE AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT FROM THE SOLONS ON THE MOTHERFUCKING EMPEROR???
WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR DEAL EROS
LIKE DAMN I AIN'T SAYING THE DUKE AND DUCHESS DON'T DESERVE IT OR ANYTHING BUT WHAT THE FUCC
uh oh Psyche Has Figured It Out
OH SHE'S LITERALLY A DIVINE CHOSEN ONE. COOL. COOLCOOLCOOLCOOLCOOL
oh this is so fucked
YEAHHHHHH
OH FUCK
delicious :3
get fucked you shitty prince
hee hee hee hee
jjdhfkjs BLESS PSYCHE
heli is Dying
psyche is so cute. i love her.
flamesonthesideofmyface: hello I didn't know you were also reading this week by week +_+
these reactions are giving me life, I love it
ooohhh the asset usage really leveled up here +_+
look how nicely they did the light and shadows on that lace
fuckin seamless
the FUCKING duke
what a god damn monster
THE FUCKING PUPPET SHOW
this is the wildest shit out of context
oh HELLO
oh damn
this is so fucking coy lmfao
"here's an introductory nameplate just to let you know I am absolutely not going to tell you who this motherfucker is or what he does yet"
holy shit psyche
god damn that is a nicely constructed scene
hey what the fuck is happening in chapter 29
oh okay there are Shenanigans afoot
it is a testament to how despicable Eros is that he just stone cold stabbed a man who was actively at that very moment trafficking children, and yet I can't be happy about it at all
I think I might like this guy
OH TANZ I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN THAT HORSE IS DIRE 
the fact that this guy instantly accepts that his horse was startled into rearing by A Pine Cone Existing seems extremely accurate for what I know about horses
y'know. nothing.
fuck you
oh man Psyche has really learned how to be mean like Medea. proud of u girl
some very correct opinions about Eros in the comments
... oh no.
oh no MEDEA'S LIE IS HAVING UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES
just accidentally implicated THE FUCKING CARDINAL in their thwarting of Eros's assassination attempt
WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING
somebody needs to get Perion clued in REAL fast
oh fuck oh no eros's RING
--yo??
psyche learned: REVERSE HEAL
oh shit. eros is catching on.
heli havin a rough time
oh no war flashbacks
pictured: a man who does not feel like he has won
jesus christ
heli could use about a thousand hugs and some therapy
wuh oh
I am so proud of my girl Psyche
you suppose
hahaha
the exact moment psyche realizes just how thoroughly people have deliberately set her up to be this completely and perfectly naive and incapable of believing anyone of evil person and how well it actually worked up until the bodyswitch
YUP
and, therefore, just how effectively they've handed her the power to use that in conjunction with her newfound experiences to utterly destroy them for it
yeeeeesssssss
chef'd kiss
i love that for her. destroy them all bb
--oh
oh no. medea's known about heli and nana this whole time. but without knowing why.
;w;
growth
Medea being nice to her servants is also very heartening to see
--oh
well.
that contrast was set up nicely.
this is so pretty +_+
well this is pretty fucked
everything abt the oracle situation is fucked
this from the guy the duke described as more like an old friend than a business partner :')
almost like the evil fucker has no real friends :')
I feel like you can chart an arc of the artist getting increasingly confident in building pretty dresses with assets, and consequently increasingly stoked to do so
y'know, points for gumption
yeah NOW you want her
you found That Horse, you win a prize
you're right about pinecones tho
also I'm not 100% he doesn't feel like he just put Medea on the plan back burner for a while and is now just shrugging and moving her into place to help take care of Psyche for him for real now that he's sucking at it
not at all unlikely
this fuckin Hans Frozen-ass motherfucker
question: has Perion ever had an ounce of chill in his life
even one chill
oh well, I was going to use you as a sacrificial pawn back when I thought I could do this whole thing fast on my birthday but now that that's not happening you I do remember I HAD pegged you as a hot potential evil empress 🤔
oh lyssie, you're not even at the part where Perion establishes his exact chill level yet
it's okay, he doesn't leave it ambiguous
OH BOY.
he has a standard and he wants us to know
Legends Never Die 
unstoppable force meets another unstoppable force
i grudgingly admire eros's crocodile tears game
I really wanna know what the fuck is with that dark smoke Perion sees
is it seriously just like a divine magic visualization of her LV
ohh is the mask coming off
my giiirrrrl
this fucking Utena bullshit Medea and Perion are doing
people in the comments continuing to be broadly correct
god I am in AWE of Medea's planning and forethought
UH
UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
P
PERION
Medea: ok cool so in addition to that whole swordfight headgame I bluffed you into betting one of your eyes, never intending to actually collect on that in any literal fashion, so that you'd feel subtly indebted to me when I didn't--
Perion: hold my beer
Perion: hold my beer
listen I said I'd give up my eye and frankly it's not my problem if you're some kind of huge coward who was """speaking metaphorically, Perion, what the actual fuck"""
Medea planned for everything except for Perion being even more fucking gonzo bonkers than she had already gathered
I can't believe I cut my eye out for you for no reason and now despite the fact that no one asked me to do that and in fact you literally asked me not to I'm not getting any sympathy for it around here. wow. everyone's really unreasonable! it's tough for a guy!!!!
this man is feral and his manservant who's had to try to wrangle him all this time is a goddamn hero
oh hey speaking of that guy
Perion exists to caution the cast about the dangers of dramatic escalation
it's all fun and games and going on unhinged rants about losing everything while throwing lamps until someone loses an eye
god so I am all about the potentially-sapphic friendship between Medea and Psyche, but also, please notice this very sad puppy
like you just gotta watch what tone you set around him he WILL take your escalation as a challenge and he will NOT read the room about "hey we're de-escalating now, haha that was crazy right-- Perion? Perion????"
frankly how dare you insult his pride and honor by trying to de-escalate at all
h-heli
Helio is good
ok my mistake they're clearly already in some kinda D/s relationship
chokes
Damn I had been fully in the worst of my headache while reading that helio scene, I think, since I have barely any recollection of it and just lol. Foot
he wants her to step on him and really, do we not all want medea to step on us
... i sure hope you planned for this, medea
I would like to note: Bertie is very good
ooooohhhhhh my god
I am finding out now what the Duke did and it is NASTY
perion why are you suddenly aggroing on Medea
I appreciate that in every flashback we see Medea approaching Helio as maybe a cute older sister or mentor with an interest in helping someone down on his luck would, very normally, but Helio is independently like no. I am furniture. your heel on my head is the only thing that makes me hard. Medea like damn okay I didnt actually ask for this but adorable tbh
it's tru
medea's only weakness: emotion
I am really enjoying watching Medea and Perion keep happening to each other
"I helped you because maybe a little bit the strategic advantage of your support and maybe a little bit genuine altruism and I genuinely like and trust you now, it's sweet" "okay but did you want an obsessive sex slave????" "aw honey that's precious I mean I can't say I'm against having an obsessive sex slave, you're doing amazing sweetie"
oh no I hope Bertie's okay
both for her sake and Medea's sake tbh
it's honestly really interesting how Medea can lay these intricate plans that unfold flawlessly based on her knowledge of people, and then at the same time be blindsided at the realization that the really sweet maid who's super loyal to her might get hurt in the process of her father's fit of rage that she intentionally provoked
like she doesn't want to, or can't, think about her servants holding genuine affection for her or being willing to get hurt for her sake
almost like that's a huge sore trauma point for her!
make him squirm.
awww her request to the butler
bertie is a GOOD GIRL
oh
I hate him so much
not pictured: a well-rested man
psyche
I love this series
<3
I don't know if I ship it or I friend-ship it or I'm just delighted by this girl solidarity
but it's Real Good
pffft
Psyche learning to connive gives me life
what the fuck eros
bunk beds seem suboptimal for hospital accomodations
jesus fuck you're having this lavish meal right there in the motherfucking dungeon where the CHILD SLAVES you were just beating can see it and smell it, you EVIL MOTHERFUCKERS
I feel fucked up about this
"it's absolutely vital that you recover from the injury I inflicted on you before we have to be seen in public, so if you don't focus entirely on that I'll maim you instead"
piece a fuckin work, this guy
god.
please die in multiple fires
nooooo the butler
watching Eros happen to Duke Solon is soooooo satisfying
point one bastard at another bastard
fk I ran out of new episodes
okay. I will pour coins into the app for more episodes but I have been binging this series for JESUS CHRIST ELEVEN HOURS??
I'M GOING TO FUCKING SLEEP.
i just want it noted this is the most astonishingly fucking loving look to give someone in the middle of a heavily negotiated and consensual bdsm acene and it literally ruined me to see it
like this series isn't light on astonishingly lusty, hungry, or living looks in the middle of what is clearly a bdsm scene in fancy dress but that one is quite possibly the most psychologically destructive for the scope of all the sincerity, love, worship, trust, and desire it manages to cram into itself, in context
GOD
also I'm really ready for whenever the "we'll switch, I'll protect you" flips and Psyche switches in to protect Medea instead
cos if I can make any prediction with confidence it's that one
YES
absolutely
okay I paid coins to read the next unlockable chapter, and this is too much power
I can't do this and then wait for everyone else to catch up. i cannot. i will die.
so you're saying the power and responsibility are too great? 
it's a double-edged sword for sure
god. I can't believe i did this to myself. now I have to wait all week for y'all to react to the shit I am currently vibrating about
you did do this to yourself
understandably so, as if i were more easily tempted i probably would too
but i'm not downloading and then putting money into an app for anything again after being burnt so horribly by sinoalice, so rip. i will have to suffer and wait
there's 4 more chapters I could so easily destroy myself with but then my suffering will only increase